It consists of two areas: a house in Rotterdam, formerly part of the Netherlands, and a patch of uninhabited land on the Danube, known as Siga, which includes a river island. The nation's activities are mainly cultural.[2]

Contents

Location

Paraduin's main territorial claim, Siga, is situated at the largest green-colored pocket of contested territory. The yellow-colored areas to the east are claimed by both Serbia and Croatia. According to Croatia the green parts belong to Serbia, while Serbia states they are Croatia's.

Rotterdam

The house in Rotterdam is the residence and property of the prince. According to Prince Ogidius, who is suffering from the debilitating neuroimmune disease myalgic encephalomyeltis, international law gave him the right to secede from the Netherlands after he was denied welfare and the Dutch court refused to hear his case. This left him without means to survive. Although ME has been recognized by the World Health Organization as early as 1969, its existence is still denied by the Dutch government. Many patients have no or little income.

Siga

Siga's status became disputed after Yugoslavia fell apart and the new independent states of Croatia and Serbia could not agree on the location of their border. According to Serbia, the current location of the Danube is where the border lies, while Croatia claims it's where the river used to run at an earlier date. As a consequence, some larger areas on the left bank of the river are claimed by both macronations, while each maintains that a few smaller pockets of land on the right bank belong to the other.[3]

One view is that these smaller pockets, of which Siga with about 7 km2[3] is the largest, became terra nullius to be claimed by anyone. Paraduin was the first of several micronations to do so. The macronations Serbia and Croatia maintain that Siga did not become a terra nullius, but is disputed land that will some day belong to one of them, depending on the outcome of negotiations.

Siga includes a floodplain forest, known locally as Gornja Siga (Upper Siga), and a river isle, Siga Szeget (Siga Island). The area is uninhabited, and international treaties regarding the Danube require it to keep its ecological function. Part of the land is privately owned by a logging company, while the beach and the sandy river island allow for occasional tourism.[4]

History

Although Paraduin claimed Siga on 5 March 2015,[5] the micronation's official founding day is 1 April 2015, when it added the Rotterdam headquarters and called itself a sovereignstate. With permanent residence guaranteed, the nation presumes to satisfy the Montevideo criteria for statehood.[6]

Several other micronations intended to acquire Siga, specifically South Maudlandia (18 March),[7]Liberland (13 April),[8] and Âûtia (17 April),[9] but arrived later.[10] A flag ceremoniously raised by representatives of Liberland was removed within days.[11] New attempts by Liberland representatives to access the area were thwarted by the Croatian police.

The Principality of Ongal claims the remaining, smaller pieces of disputed territory on the Danube's right bank, about 1,5 km2 in total.

Motto and constitution

The micronation's motto is 'Freedom in Solidarity',[1] and it supports the idea of a basic income.[9]

The constitution furthermore establishes the nation as a monarchy, with Ogidius as its first ruler. The ruler's title is Prince (or Princess) of Paraduin, but the ruler is also considered a citizen. Although the legal power of the monarch is in every other aspect absolute, the right to fair treatment is unalienable. Other constitutional rights can only be limited if fair treatment requires it.[12]